Byram: Legislature takes another tool from police

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – The Oregon Legislature has added a new police reform law. Senate Bill 1510 passed both houses and is awaiting the signature from Gov. Kate Brown. Among other things, it bans police from stopping a vehicle solely because of a mechanical violation like a burned out headlight.

“When we are using those tools, one, it’s for a safety reason,” Pendleton Police Chief Chuck Byram said. “Two, it’s to let the motorist know that they have a light out, because a lot of times, they don’t even know. Or three, it’s a pretext for us looking for criminal behavior. It seems like that’s what the Legislature wants to control is our ability to go out and proactively stop individuals when we’re looking for criminal behavior.”

Byram said that nipping criminal behavior in the bud is important, and the new law will make it harder but his officers will keep trying.

“It will force us to dig deeper into the code book,” he said. “It will force us to get a little more, I guess, creative with how we are going to proactively police our community to try to make it safer.”